"The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office confirms former Attorney General Scott Pruitt used a private email for state business. The information comes a week after FOX 25 first revealed the emails that appeared to be sent from Pruitt’s private email account."
In the face of rising protests from anti-fracking and anti-pipeline activists, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has adopted a format for some meetings that prevents the press from covering public comment in real time. The Society of Environmental Journalists has expressed concern to FERC about this practice, which also prevents the public from engaging in dialogue. The text of SEJ's Feb. 23, 2017 letter is here.
"A little less than seven years ago, the climate scientist Michael Mann ambled into his office at Penn State University with a wedge of mail tucked under his arm. As he tore into one of the envelopes, which was hand-addressed to him, white powder tumbled from the folds of the letter. Mann recoiled from the grainy plume and rushed to the bathroom to scrub his hands."
FERC’s calendar listed it as a “public comment meeting.” Later, FERC said it wasn’t a public meeting, but a “listening session” to which the public was invited. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates things like interstate pipelines and powerlines, and has been no stranger to controversy in recent years. In Wilson, N.C., the night of February 14, 2017, FERC officials would not allow the news media to work inside the auditorium where a “public” listening session was being held. The Society of Environmental Journalists today wrote FERC expressing concern about the procedure.
"As dawn breaks over an encampment that was once home to thousands of people protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline, a few hundred holdouts rise for another day of resistance."
"The Oklahoma attorney general's office says it has complied with a judge's order to surrender documents related to new Environmental Protection Agency leader Scott Pruitt's communications with energy companies."
Bobby Magill, in his most recent SEJ President's Report, recalls his time traversing federal wilderness areas that are now increasingly the subject of dispute. How are they to be used? Who is to hold them? Will these vast Western lands remain in the public domain? And what is the role of journalists in covering this story?
"If you peruse NASA’s social media feeds dedicated to climate change, you would have no clue a new administration has taken power that has expressed doubts about the reality or seriousness of the issue."
"The condemnation was swift when the Agriculture Department announced two weeks ago that it had pulled from its website the animal welfare records from 9,000 research labs, dog breeders and other facilities. ... This week, the department was sued over its move, and federal lawmakers began pressing the Trump administration to again make the records public."
"The Department of Energy has taken down its public-facing employee directory, making it far more difficult for journalists and members of the public to locate email addresses and phone numbers for agency personnel."
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